Rating: 
Summary: Two books in one
Review: Dennis Lahane has performed a remarkable feat by any measure. First, he has produced a terrific, page turning detective story that keeps us guessing until almost the last page. Second, he has delivered a character study that delves so deeply into the psyches of his protagonists, and rings so true, that we are sometimes left gasping for air. This book almost transcends the mystery genre to become a work of geuninely great fiction. Unfortunately, by the end we are left feeling just a bit manipulated, and we are reminded that Dennis Lahane is more comparable to Raymond Chandler than to Ernest Hemingway. Nonetheless, this is a great read and highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Literary in Depth, Dissatisfying in Content
Review: Few novels of recent authorship have really been intended to linger in the reader's mind beyond the closing words -- which was why this story of such amazing emotional depth and maturity was as pleasantly surprising as it was to me. When nearing the finish, I honestly believed I was reading something deep and interesting, dramatic when the plot required it.Sixty or so pages from the end, however, it collapses on itself with all the weight of its own empathetic spirit. The story lapses into typing up the murder's mystery -- doing so in a rather shoddy manner that makes me wonder if Mr. LeHane didn't come upon his deadline in the midst of writer's block and hire an amateur noir novelist to finish it for him. In the end, the unneccesary details of the end feel poorly crafted and lazily drawn, the broad and introspective scope of the previous chapters moot. It's still worthy of a read, but don't expect an ending as dazzling as its brilliant lead-up.
Rating: 
Summary: basic formula but still a page turner
Review: This book was at times predictable, but overall I was still drawn to find out if I was correct in my predictions about the outcome were correct. This is the first Lehane novel I've read, so I am not angered or betrayed by him not keeping the same characters from his other novels. It's important to grow-
I had a little trouble with the character Sean Devine and his partner Whitey. Their bantor (especially Whitey's) was annoying. They were both thrown in the story because you have to have a yen/yang cop partnership- or so it seems in this type of thriller. I wish I could've believe their sincerity more- even with Sean missing his wife and daughter due to his self-created tragedy.
Everything else , engaged and fascinated me. I understood what it was like to be labeled in youth and to live up to that expectation thru the thoughts and reactions of Jimmy flats and Dave the boy who escaped the wolves.
Rating:
Summary: The movie didn't have half the power of the book....
Review: ....and the movie was excellent. But somehow some of the intensity of the novel got lost in the translation to the screen. That's not to pan the film by any means; it's just that you'll get a much bigger emotional wallop out of the book. I won't go into the plot; it's been reviewed too many times and if you've seen the movie, it follows the plot pretty faithfully (except for a few minor variations at the conclusion). Jimmy Marcus is both less intense and more calculating than in the movie, even in spite of the fact of his daughter's murder. Sean Devine seems almost obsessed with solving this case, and his partner and sergeant, Whitey Powers, is totally at odds with the image I had of him from the film. But it's Dave Boyle who had the most impact on me. In the film, he seemed to me to be a victim of circumstances, brought about by the fact that he lied about several key points of his whereabouts the night of the murder. But in spite of that, he seemed to have some control over his life. On paper, though, Dave appears to be someone who should be pitied - someone who has no control over his world or his life, and someone who is just swept along by the tides of other people's actions. This is definitely a must-read - but I would see the movie first.
Rating:
Summary: A Complex Character Study of Haunted, Shattered Lives
Review: I loved the film, MYSTIC RIVER so much I bought the book and read it in one day (and night). The film is very faithful to the book, so those of you who have seen the film pretty much know what the book is about. MYSTIC RIVER opens in 1975 as three young boys are playing stickball in the working class, blue collar neighborhood of Buckingham, Massachusetts, known as "the Flats." These three boys are Jimmy Marcus (Markum in the movie), Dave Boyle and Sean Devine. When Dave is abducted, tortured and molested, the lives of the three boys are changed forever and they begin to drift apart. At this point, both the book and the film fast forward to the present. The three boys, now men in their late 30s (although they looked at least ten years older in the film, maybe more). Sean is outwardly the most successful of the three; he's a Massachusetts State policeman, but though professionally "sort of" successful, he has personal problems...he is estranged from his wife who calls him just to say...nothing. I didn't like this aspect of the movie. It worked a little better in the book, but I thought it would have been better if Sean had simply been single. Jimmy is an ex-con, married to his second wife and has one daughter, Katie, from his first marriage (his wife died while he was in prison) and two daughters with his second wife. He runs a neighborhood grocery store. Jimmy is trying to reform but he just can't seem to do it and he still has "connections" with the local criminal element that will play a very important role in the book's conclusion. Dave is still emotionally shattered, a shell of a man, a man who might, at any moment, do anything to anyone. Despite this, he's married and has a young son, though his marriage is far from happy and his wife is far from devoted. When Katie, Sean's eldest daughter, is found murdered in a state park, Jimmy, Sean and Dave will be reunited in tragedy once again...Jimmy as the father of the victim, Sean as the policeman investigating the crime and Dave as the prime suspect...though not at first. I thought this was a little too contrived and coincidental in the movie and I think it is in the book as well, but I the book is such a good character study that I can overlook this fault. All of the characters in MYSTIC RIVER are extremely complex and quite fully realized. The most complex are Jimmy and Dave, but Sean has his complications, too, as do the wives of these haunted men. Dave, especially, is haunted. He can't communicate, not even with himself. He can't function in day to day life. He's a shell of a man who is carrying around more than that shell can hold. Something has to give and when it does, it is more tragic than we could have ever expected. No one in MYSTIC RIVER wants to admit that he or she is damaged. No one wants to hear a cry for help. From the moment the book opens, you know there is a "time bomb" just waiting to go off...the real mystery in MYSTIC RIVER isn't who killed Katie (though we do learn the murderer's identity), but just who are Sean and Jimmy and Dave and what is going on in their soul? MYSTIC RIVER is a very dark and brooding book and one that completely eschews a "feel good" ending or one in which the ending is neatly wrapped up. The ending is nebluous, open to individual interpretation, so if you can't stand that quality in a book, then I wouldn't recommend reading this one, but I think it made it a better book, almost a masterpiece. I can't stand mysteries or police procedurals so I thought I wouldn't like MYSTIC RIVER at all. The film, however, showed me that MYSTIC RIVER is far more than either a mystery or a police procedural. It's a complex character study of three shattered individuals and a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. It is also very well written. I liked it far more than SHUTTER ISLAND and I thought that was a very good book. MYSTIC RIVER is even more complex than is SHUTTER ISLAND because of the complex web of relationships between the three men and their wives. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a well written "good read."
Rating:
Summary: Book Ten Stars - Movie 8 Stars!
Review: In the Boston area, Jimmy Marcus, Dave Boyle, and Sean Devine are best friends, playing together like preadolescents do everywhere. Their friendship and perhaps childhood ends when eleven-year old Dave enters the car of two strangers claiming to be cops, who sexually molest him. When he escapes and finally returns home he is not the same carefree child. Twenty-five years later, homicide detective Devine investigates the murder of Marcus' nineteen-year-old daughter. His prime suspect is Boyle, whose own wife believes he is more monster than human being. Marcus, an ex-con, conducts his own inquiries because the grieving father plans to provide his own brand of justice to the culprit. These three former friends appear heading towards a bloody deadly collision. Dennis Lehane, known for his Kenzie-Gennero series, has written his best novel to date. MYSTIC RIVER contains a who-done-it, but that is a subplot of the theme that centers on the impact on adults of their broken childhood relationships. This psychological suspense tale works because the three key players and several support members like Boyle's wife appear genuine and consistent so that their actions feel right for them. Though his Kenzie- Gennero series is very good, readers will demand Mr. Lehane take further sabbaticals from it so that he can concentrate on more stand alone novels like this excellent book. If you are open minded and looking for those books begging for its pages to be turned...look no further. I just read a copy of Edgar Fouche's 'Alien Rapture,' which also blew me away. Fouche was a Top Secret Black Program 'insider', whose credibility has been verified over and over. I also really liked Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons.' Want to be shocked, check out Dr. Paul Hill's 'Unconventional Flying Objects' which NASA tried to ban.
Rating:
Summary: Great writing
Review: It's rare that you find a great story coupled with great writing. Certain examples do come to mind (Boyle's WATER MUSIC or McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD), but it's not commonplace and this is unfortunate. Not so with MYSTIC RIVER. The story, the writing style, the characters, and the overall effectiveness of this novel are so entertwined that they form one of the best reads available. Lehane's descriptions are unparalleled and his character development is superb. My only hesitation with this novel was that it grew extremely dark, but then, conflict is the essence of drama. That aside, I'd highly recommend this great read to anyone. MYSTIC RIVER is one of the only sure bets in the current reading list. Don't pass it by.
Rating:
Summary: loving it in boston
Review: wow, this book was incredible! i really felt like i was part of the book and the characters were VERY realistic. just when i thought i had the story all figured out, something else would happen to contradict what i thought. it really kept me guessing! i saw the movie two weeks after i finished the book and was happy with how the movie turned out. of course it's never as good as the book but i was extremely happy with sean penn's portrayal as jimmy. splendid job! and i'm glad he won the oscar. as well as tim robbins. i have the rest of dennis lehane's books and can't wait to start reading them! i wish everyone would read mystic river!!
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT read!
Review: Three eleven-year old friends are changed forever by an incident that happens to one of the boys, David Boyle. They are also undeniably shaped by how they grew up-David and Jimmy on the rough side of town, plagued by poverty, and Sean who grew up in a more financially stable middle-class part of town. Fast forward to the here and now-Jimmy's teen-age daughter is brutally murdered, and it seems that David might have done it. Sean, now an officer of the law, is one of the investigators. He doesn't really think David did it, but he has some doubts. The author does a good job with dialogue, and the town settings, and character details, are just right. It's a quick read, and the ending will surprise you. It is just so unexpected--it almost feels like a gut-punch. So, bottom line, if you like a well-written whodunit with an ending that will definitely surpise you, this is your book. I'm going to check out some of Dennis Lehane's other books. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A Definite Must-Read!
Review: Wow, what an amazing book! So good from beginning to end, I wasn't bored once...I devoured it in no time! The story just wrenched my heart at every twist and turn, but I didn't see that ending coming. It's just perfectly written in all ways. I almost don't want to see the movie now, I'm unsure if it will match up against the book. I highly recommend this book...it just must be read!
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